When Words Matter

Was Eugene Bullard a pilot, an aircraft pilot, an airplane pilot, or an aviator? Be careful: the wrong answer can result in him being erased from history.

Archives and libraries like The Museum of Flight face a daunting task of keeping records consistent, not just internally but across thousands of similar libraries globally. Whether researching at their local public library or an internationally renowned institution, it’s vital that when a person asks for information about a person or topic they get as many resources as possible. So how do all these different places keep their records straight?

That’s where the Library of Congress comes in. In the United States, the LOC’s Subject Headings are almost universally adopted by libraries and are used in many museum archives. The LOC maintains a Name Authority, essentially a database of important figures. It includes basic biographical statistics, but these are not biographies. Entries are concise, using controlled vocabulary, which is library jargon for predetermined keywords that have been vetted and carefully chosen to ensure clarity and prevent the database from getting fragmented with overlapping terms.

Without a controlled vocabulary, a place like the Museum might file information on Bullard under any number of terms: pilot, aircraft pilot, airplane pilot, aviator and more. Each archivist might have their own system. Imagine the nightmare this would be for a researcher coming to us for info! Even more horrific, filing a person into a splinter category that gets forgotten might mean that person’s record is essentially lost and wiped from history!

By using the controlled vocabulary from the Library of Congress’ Name Authority shared with thousands of other similar institutions, not only do we make research easy, but we keep our staff from making stressful guesswork.

Check out Eugene Bullard’s Name Authority ?? https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n99262857.html